MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry sharply criticized congressional Democrats who won’t attend the party’s convention in August, arguing it weakens both these candidates and President Obama.

“This is extremely short-sighted,” she said on MSNBC Thursday of the more than a dozen Democrats in Congress who have said they will skip the convention. (Check out this Grio story on the Democrats who opting against attending the DNC in Charlotte) Most of these Democrats are in conservative-leaning districts or states where Obama is unpopular, so not attending the convention is a way to show their distance from the president.

“It is short-sighted to image your seat is safer when you are not protecting and giving a sense of enthusiasm to the president whose running for reelection,” Harris-Perry said.